{"id":46782,"date":"2022-11-07T14:51:01","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T14:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=46782"},"modified":"2023-03-20T15:11:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:11:56","slug":"fidh-congress-condemns-grave-human-rights-violations-in-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/fidh-congress-condemns-grave-human-rights-violations-in-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"At its centenary commemoration in Paris FIDH condemns grave human rights violations in Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Opening<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

PARIS, 7 November 2022 (VCHR) – Human rights defenders from all over the world gathered in Paris for the 41st Congress of the FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights). The Congress, which brought together over 450 human rights defenders from FIDH leagues in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, also marked the 100 years of FIDH\u2019s human rights advocacy since its creation in 1922. The Opening Ceremony at the Paris H\u00f4tel de Ville included video messages from French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and speeches by a range of international personalities. Seventeen empty chairs were placed in honour of seventeen members of the FIDH currently in arbitrary detention, including Belarusian lawyer Ales Bialiatski, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examining\nsituations of particular concern around the world, FIDH delegates unanimously\nadopted a resolution condemning human rights violations and repression of human\nrights defenders in Vietnam (see full text below).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alice
Alice Mogwe, FIDH President (Photo Baptiste Cottereau \/ FIDH)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

FIDH President Alice Mogwe, a prominent Botswana activist who was elected for a second term at the Congress, described FIDH\u2019s creation in the wake of the First World War: \u201c<\/em><\/a>On 28th May 1922, on the initiative of the French and the German Leagues of Human Rights, human rights organizations from 10 European countries gathered in Paris to create a movement to promote peace through human rights and cooperation amongst nations, to ensure that never again such horrors should occur. Today, the FIDH has grown into an international federation with 192 leagues in 117 countries all over the world, with many leagues in Asia, including Vietnam\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ales Bialiatski (former FIDH Vice-President), the Russian organization Memorial and the Centre for Civil Liberties from Ukraine \u2013 all members of the FIDH \u2013came as a meaningful tribute to the organization\u2019s work. \u201cThe Nobel Peace Prize this year is a wonderful recognition of this fight. It is the prize of resistance. Resistance against totalitarianism, and against all attempts to silence the voices of all those who dare to stand up and denounce human rights violations from the past and present. It is a prize of everyday heroes, the prize for those who fight for human rights, sometimes at great personal risk. It is a wonderful tribute to the courage, determination and the fundamentally positive role that human rights defenders play in situations of repression or conflict. For they are the change-makers for peace and justice\u201d <\/em>said FIDH President Alice Mogwe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Video
Video Message from French President Emmanuel Macron at the FIDH Opening Ceremony, 23rd October 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the world\u2019s very first international non-governmental human rights organization, the FIDH has made significant contributions to the protection of human rights and the creation and strengthening of global human rights mechanisms. One of its eminent members, Ren\u00e9 Cassin, helped to draft the United Nations\u2019 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, made public in Paris on 10th<\/sup> December 1948, which since became International Human Rights Day. FIDH played a key role in advocating for the creation of an International Criminal Court, which was finally established in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIDH\u2019s engagement for Vietnam dates back to the 1920s, when it intervened to abrogate the death sentence on Vietnamese patriots Phan B\u1ed9i Ch\u00e2u and Phan Ch\u00e2u Trinh who were condemned to death for their pursuit of Vietnam\u2019s independence from colonial rule. In 1989, FIDH invited the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) to join the organization. VCHR\u2019s President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i remained Vice-President of the FIDH for 18 years. Together, the FIDH and VCHR have continued to raise Vietnam\u2019s grave human rights abuses in international fora such as the European Parliament and the United Nations, and to support human rights defenders on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Opening
Opening session of the FIDH 41st Congress. From left to right : \u00c9l\u00e9onore Morel, FIDH Executive Director, Juliane Falloux, FIDH Deputy Executive Director, Maryse Artiguelong, Vice-President of the French League for Human Rights (LDH), Alice Mogwe, FIDH President, V\u00f5 Tr\u1ea7n Nh\u1eadt, VCHR Executive Secretary (Photo Baptiste Cottereau \/ FIDH)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

During the 41st<\/sup> Congress, held from 23 to 27 October, FIDH unanimously adopted a \u201cResolution on the Human Rights Situation in Vietnam 2022\u201d. The resolution denounced the use of restrictive legislation to criminalise human rights and legalise arbitrary detention, and deplored the repression of civil society activists under fallacious criminal charges. Specifically, it raised the cases of environmental rights defenders Mai Phan L\u1ee3i, B\u1ea1ch H\u00f9ng D\u01b0\u01a1ng, \u0110\u1eb7ng \u0110\u00ecnh B\u00e1ch <\/a><\/strong>and Ng\u1ee5y Th\u1ecb Khanh<\/strong>, imprisoned on trumped-up charges of \u201ctax evasion\u201d, and independent journalist Ph\u1ea1m Ch\u00ed D\u0169ng<\/strong>, condemned to 15 years in prison for calling on the European Parliament to postpone ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement pending concrete human rights progress in Vietnam.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nresolution also expressed FIDH members\u2019 deep concern about the use of the death\npenalty in Vietnam, with executions doubling over the past 10 years, and the\ninhuman conditions of executions and detention on death row. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full\ntext of the Resolution:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resolution on the\nhuman rights situation in Vietnam 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FIDH and\nits leagues gathered for its 41st Congress in Paris, France,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering\nthat<\/strong> during the past three years at least 95 activists, dissidents and\nhuman rights defenders, including 17 women, have been arrested and 113,\nincluding 17 women, have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering\nthat<\/strong> Vietnam is adopting and enforcing laws and regulations that are\nincompatible with its obligations under the\nInternational Human Rights Charter (such as Articles of the Criminal Code on threats against \u2018national security\u2019, the Press\nLaw, the Law on Belief and Religion, the Cybersecurity Law and provisions to\ncounter supposed \u201cfake news\u201d on social media networks) and justifies its violent acts and human rights violations by\nclaiming \u2018they comply with the law\u2019<\/em>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Noting\nthat<\/strong> \u201cthe law\u201d to which the Vietnamese authorities repeatedly refer remains\nan extremely broad concept that may include decisions\nor resolutions of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), and that the laws themselves are so vague and imprecise that they\ncan encompass all forms of behavior ranging from the\nmost reprehensible to the most legitimate,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering\nthat<\/strong> these regulations limit the space in which both Vietnamese and international NGOs can operate freely in\nVietnam by imposing registration and financing criteria aimed at restricting\nand controlling the role of civil society, notably in the fields of human\nrights and the environment,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Alarmed<\/strong>\nby the recent arbitrary arrests and sentencing of environmental rights defenders\nMai Phan L\u1ee3i,<\/strong>\n<\/strong>B\u1ea1ch H\u00f9ng D\u01b0\u01a1ng,\n\u0110\u1eb7ng \u0110\u00ecnh B\u00e1ch <\/strong>and Ngu\u1ef5\nThi Khanh <\/strong>to between two and five years in prison on the pretext of tax evasion, when they had simply criticized\nthe government\u2019s pro-coal energy policy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering<\/strong>\nthat<\/strong> reform underway of Decree 72\/2013\/ND-CP on the use and management\nof the Internet is designed to further undermine\nfreedom of expression and press freedom online, notably by obliging operators\nto remove all \u2018illegal content\u2019 within 24 hours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering<\/strong>\nthat<\/strong> the number of executions in Vietnam is the highest in Southeast\nAsia and that it continues to rise, doubling within a\ndecade; that Vietnam ranks amongst the countries with the highest rate of death sentences and executions in the world; that\ndetention centres for prisoners condemned to death are overcrowded and that the\nwait on death row remains \u2018extremely long\u2019 even by the Vietnamese authorities\u2019 own admission, and that death penalties are\nhanded down by courts in which the right to defence is not guaranteed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering<\/strong>\nthat<\/strong> a number of crimes liable to capital punishment are political crimes\ndefined in vague and arbitrary terms which can\nencompass the legitimate and peaceful exercise of fundamental freedoms, for example the provisions of Article\n109 of the Criminal Code which criminalise the\nmere intention to criticise the government,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Considering<\/strong>\nthe risk of inhumane treatment during executions conducted by lethal injection\nusing unspecified products, given that\nVietnam had to introduce a decree requiring an execution to be suspended if the person convicted had not died\nafter 30 minutes and the administering of three lethal doses,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemn<\/strong> the systematic repression of any\ndissenting voice or differing point of view and the on-going assault on Vietnamese\ncivil society as a whole, including the harassment and arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders, bloggers, journalists and\nother activists, who are sometimes condemned to extremely harsh prison sentences\n(such as 15 years in prison for the dissident Ph\u1ea1m Ch\u00ed D\u0169ng), the brutal dispersal of peaceful demonstrations,\nInternet censorship, etc.,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Express\nparticular concern<\/strong>\nat the conviction of environmental activists for \u2018tax evasion\u2019, which is clearly a pretext, and point out that their\nactivities constitute the exercise of the legitimate right to participate in public life and serve the public\ninterest,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemn<\/strong> the use by the Vietnamese\nauthorities of what they claim is \u201cthe law\u201d to justify actions which blatantly flout the most fundamental\nrights, and to legitimise arbitrary practices to the detriment of Vietnamese citizens and civil society,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Require<\/strong> in this respect that domestic laws\nand regulations be immediately brought into line with Vietnam\u2019s international\nhuman rights obligations; invite the Vietnamese authorities to work in good\nfaith with the UN and the international community to this end; call on Vietnam\nto abandon forthwith amendments to Decree 72 which impose further curbs to\ninternet freedom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemn<\/strong> the unacceptable and dangerous\nrestrictions imposed on both local and international NGOs in Vietnam, particularly relating to their financing\nand freedom of action,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand<\/strong> a moratorium on the death penalty\nwith a view to abolishing it, reducing the number of crimes, particularly political crimes, liable to incur\ncapital punishment; urge the government, in the interests of transparency, to publish\nall relevant information concerning the death penalty in Vietnam, including statistics\non the numbers condemned to death, executions and\nthose held on death row, the products used in lethal injections, etc.),<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand<\/strong> that the European Union, which has\nlinks with Vietnam through the 2020 Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), use all means at its disposal to press\nVietnam to respect its undertakings on fair trade and development, particularly in the field of workers\u2019 rights and the\nenvironment.  —<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 7 November 2022 (VCHR) – Human rights defenders from all over the world gathered in Paris for the 41st Congress of the FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights). The Congress, which brought together over 450 human rights defenders from FIDH leagues in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, also marked the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":46772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,113,98,64],"tags":[1386,1576,1516,1441,1440,1560,960,1575],"class_list":["post-46782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-alice-mogwe","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-bach-hung-duong","tag-dang-dinh-bach","tag-mai-phan-loi","tag-nguy-thi-khanh","tag-pham-chi-dung","tag-un-secretary-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}